Deborah Bradley’s uncle Johnny Chivalette III called upon Bradley to confess.
He claims no specific evidence of wrongdoing on her part but says he understands the crippling effects alcohol and other family dysfunction have wrought. Bradley’s mother was an alcoholic and died at age 36.
Chivalette said he called Bradley and wrote to her to encourage her to confess, even sending a copy of his letter to the Kansas City Star.
Our family is so dysfunctional,” he said. “I don’t think she’d do something on purpose but I can see her hiding something after that.”
Chivalette’s comments raise an intriguing question. Could Bradley have been both a “good mom” and responsible in some way for baby Lisa’s disappearance or the cover-up of her untimely death? Adult children of alcoholics tend to have common behavioral characteristics, according to experts in the field. Many of them develop a heightened sense of responsibility and take the role of caretaker to near perfectionist lengths. That could explain the super mom reputation Bradley cultivated for herself.
But according to Janet Woititz, who developed a list of 13 characteristics of adult children of alcoholics, they also “lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth,” constantly seek approval and affirmation, and, due to impulsivity, lock themselves into a course of action without seriously considering alternatives. The latter, she says, results in confusion, self-loathing and loss of control as well as expenditure of considerable energy “cleaning up the mess.”
Netz cited Bradley’s willingness to call 911 when a dog bit Irwin’s son as an example of why he believes that if an accident had befallen Lisa, Bradley would have called authorities, not covered it up. That analysis ignores key issues of culpability and the potential consequences for Bradley. Bradley was not at risk of going to jail or being accused of poor parenting in the dog bite instance. If she was, as she herself has said, blackout drunk on Oct. 3 and Lisa died while in her care, she was at risk of criminal charges, removal of the other children from her home, and the loss of the super mom reputation she worked so hard to build.
Unless little Lisa is found, the public may not find out how Bradley’s persona as a caring mother fits with the evidence surrounding baby Lisa’s disappearance.
